Montreal City Weblog

Kate 11:02 on 2019-08-10 Permalink Reply  

• Chris 12:26 on 2019-08-10 Permalink

  Perhaps thanks, in part, to Airbnb making to easier and cheaper?

• Ephraim 13:58 on 2019-08-10 Permalink

  Chris – Nope. AirBnB has nothing to do with it at all. I can tell you also that the mix this year is different than other years, with less Europeans coming in August than normal. AirBnB has almost no effect on the tourism numbers, other than to lower GDP and increase taxes because they help people with tax evasion that you and I have to make up with our taxes.

  BTW… before you consider doing AirBnB in Montreal, remember that Montreal is big in the porn industry… and the sets are often AirBnB rentals 🙂

• Chris 19:31 on 2019-08-10 Permalink

  “AirBnB has nothing to do with it at all.” Saying so doesn’t make it so. Has anyone studied it? You have anything to back up the claim?

• Joey 19:46 on 2019-08-10 Permalink

  Since Airbnb “has almost no effect on tourism numbers,” what aspect of the economy does it affect so significantly as to lower our GDP? Thought experiment: abolish all short-term tourism rentals in Montreal overnight. Does tourism go up, down or stay the same? Do restaurant and concert revenues increase or decrease? Do hotel prices go up or down?

  The critique of airbnb that Ephraim posts five days a week on this blog is valid and persuasive, but the idea that Airbnb has no impact on tourism is ludicrous.

• Ephraim 19:52 on 2019-08-10 Permalink

  The statistics say it’s so. They look at hotel numbers, AirBnB numbers essentially don’t exist because they don’t give out a count of people. The statistics are based on Tourisme Montreal numbers. Of course those aren’t right either, since only about 40% of hotels and less than 10% of the other accommodations give them any numbers. But statistics basically say that part of statistical numbers should correlated, but that’s an assumption. Many of the hotels have turned their back on Tourisme Montreal. They also use statistics from AdMtl, which of course doesn’t really have a way to know WHY people are coming and of course doesn’t include rail or car. And of course, you can’t really get car unless you could count, because how do you know who drives through, who stays, etc. For the most part, it looks at people in hotel rooms, nothing more.

  They lower GDP because the income is generally not declared on income tax and income tax is not paid. (Also GST/QST are not paid.)

• Chris 11:19 on 2019-08-11 Permalink

  Ephraim, if “AirBnB numbers essentially don’t exist” then how can you conclude that “AirBnB has nothing to do with it at all”? Which “statistics say it’s so”? Can you share a link?

  I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m saying you’re not convincing. 🙂

• Ephraim 11:34 on 2019-08-11 Permalink

  Chris, look at tourist statistics for Montreal. AirBnB sometimes, for political gain, will release their numbers when they are trying to make a point. But otherwise, they don’t participate. They will cite how much they have paid in the 3.5% tax. Of course we have no way to correlate that with tourists, though it’s supposed to go to tourism. We know they are reporting the money as a lump sum, so they can hide the sources. But I’m not sure if they have to report it regionally, so each region gets it’s fair share of the 3.5%.

  The source of tourism numbers in Quebec has always been AdMtl and Tourisme Montreal. Not that I’m saying that these are good sources. For one thing, people often lie a borders saying they are here for tourism, when they can be here to work, stay or study, but don’t want to deal with the hassle of the border guard or getting a work visa. For another, at an Airport doesn’t really tell you where they are going, because they could fly into Montreal to go to Vermont, for example.

  But the statistics just don’t have AirBnB in them…. well, slightly, in that they would appear in the Admtl stats. But I’ve seen these statistics and my own business for a long time. I can tell a good year from a bad year by looking at my receipts. Last year the Europeans came much earlier than normal. This year, they didn’t. It’s hard to tell about September/October when you deal with older travellers and then leaf travellers, just yet. Also booking patterns differ wildly between the groups. But that is something that you learn in the business. I also didn’t deal with as many AirBnB rescues this year… the crying phone calls looking for a place to stay.